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Hot Water Bottles Safety Standard BS 1970:2012

BS 1970, the internationally-recognised UK safety standard for rubber and
PVC hot water bottles, has been amended as BS 1970:2012. The main changes are as follows:

New filling requirements:

The inside faces of the hot water bottle shall not stick or block
together during filling.

The hot water bottle shall fill to its recommended capacity within
30 s.

A filling procedure
isn’t included. However, filling time
will partly depend on the filling aperture which is specified.

Reduction of the minimum
elongation at break for PVC materials from 200 % to 150 %.

Additional and amended safety
instructions:

“Do not overfill as this might cause the bottle to burst.”

“Finally, make sure the funnel
is empty. If
there is a possibility that prolonged contact with the skin could occur, an
adequate cover should be used to prevent burns.
Under no circumstance should the hot water bottle be used as a cushion
and be sat on.”

“Do not place anything on top of the bottle during storage.”

“Check the bottle and stopper for wear and damage prior to
use.”

Please note, these new and amended safety
instructions are embedded among other minimum instructions (see BS 1970:2011).

In the absence of
European or international hot water bottle safety standards, BS 1970, as the foremost
hot water bottle safety standard may be used as a benchmark to assess hot water
bottles under the general safety requirement of the EU General Product Safety
Directive 2001/95/EC.

These changes in BS 1970:2012
are additional to the mandatory Australian requirements based on the 2006
version of the standard. So hot water
bottles complying with either the 2012 or 2006 versions of BS 1970 will also
comply.

The Australian requirements
have the following additional labelling requirements compared to either version
of BS 1970, hot water bottles shall be

Permanently and prominently marked with the warning:

“Do not use
boiling water”

Accompanied by either of the following warnings (whichever is
applicable):